The present invention is directed to a gaming apparatus, which could be either an individual gaming apparatus or a gaming system having a plurality of gaming apparatuses, wherein the gaming apparatuses are capable of warming or cooling a liquid beverage.
It is a customary practice in casinos or other facilities to provide hot or cold beverages to players who are using gaming apparatuses. In conventional gaming apparatuses, nothing is provided to keep the players"" beverages hot or cold. Therefore, the liquid in the beverages change temperatures. A hot beverage will cool down toward room temperature and a cold beverage will warm up toward room temperature. After a length of time, the beverage no longer has the taste appeal that a hot or cold beverage has. To make matters worse, most conventional beverage holders are made of metals that dissipate the heat or cold from the beverage very quickly, thus speeding up the process of warming cold drinks and cooling hot drinks.
Many establishments have attempted to resolve this problem by hiring additional employees to walk around the facility and replace the players"" beverages. Because many of the establishments provide free beverages to the players, replacing the beverages before they are finished creates a waste in both beverage supply costs and in labor costs. In most cases, the players are eager to replace their drink with a new one because the beverages are served cost free to the players. Additionally, there are some establishments that exist wherein the players or customers are required to pay for their beverages.
The invention is directed to a gaming apparatus that may comprise a housing and a display unit that is associated with the housing. The display unit is also capable of generating video images. The gaming apparatus also includes a value input device that is capable of allowing the player to deposit a medium of value, and a controller, wherein the controller is operatively coupled to the display unit and the value input device. The controller may have a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor. Additionally, the controller may be programmed to allow a person to make a wager and to cause a video image to be generated on the display unit after the value input device detects deposit of value by the person.
The video image may represent a casino game selected from the group of casino games consisting of video poker, video blackjack, video slots, video keno and video bingo, in which case the video image may comprise an image of at least five playing cards if the game comprises video poker. Likewise, the video image may comprise an image of a plurality of playing cards if the game comprises video blackjack. If the game selected by the player is video slots, the video image may comprise an image of a plurality of simulated slot machine reels. The video image may comprise an image of a plurality of keno numbers if the game comprises video keno, or the video image may comprise an image of a bingo grid if the game comprises video bingo. The controller may also be programmed to determine an outcome of the game represented by the video image and a value payout associated with the outcome of the game.
The gaming apparatus may also include a beverage temperature control system that may comprise a beverage support structure coupled to the housing, a beverage present detector, a beverage temperature monitor, and a beverage temperature altering mechanism that is operatively coupled to the beverage support structure. The temperature altering mechanism may include a thermoelectric device that has a first semiconductor material and a second semiconductor material connected electrically in series and thermally in parallel.
The features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of various embodiments, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below.